By Laura Dimmit
news@joplinglobe.com
Barbie Bilton has always been a fix-it kind of person. As the newly named executive director of Joplin’s Community Clinic, her skills will not be going to waste.
“I think that is the most appealing thing there is (about this job) — there are so many cool things to fix.”
Though Bilton has only officially been in the position of director for a week, she had been serving as the interim director since May 1, when former director Michelle Ducre stepped down to take a position as the executive director of the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, headquartered in Carthage.
Bilton is not a new face at the clinic. She was hired last year as clinical operations manager.
“I oversaw the day-to-day operations of the clinic ... making sure that we have enough volunteers scheduled and doctors scheduled and taking care of the budget and ordering supplies ... making sure that the patients got in and got taken care of,” Bilton said of her former position.
Bilton formerly worked at St. John’s Regional Medical Center as the manager of quality and medical staff support. She said one of the greatest challenges facing the Community Clinic, which provides free medical and dental treatment for uninsured children and adults, is finding more physicians, dentists and nurse practitioners to volunteer their time. The clinic has a paid staff of five people, and operates solely on grants and donations.
“The volunteers that we have are retired,” she said, “and, with the volume of patients that we have, we are almost limited by the number of volunteers that we have. If we had more, we would be able to greatly increase the number of patients that we’re seeing.”
Last year, the clinic saw 5,500 patients, about 1,000 of which were first-time visitors. Besides general medicine, the clinic also offers pediatric, chiropractic, cardiac, orthopedic and dentistry services. They also partner directly with some outside medical offices, such as a dermatologist, to send patients needing their services directly to them.
Bilton said that now more than ever, the clinic is filling a need in the Joplin community.
“We take care of the working poor, and our next-door neighbors who have no medical insurance,” she said.
